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Mark Duroy's Journal
Innovate or Die Ride
posted by at 09:09 PM on September 25, 2007
I was not able to write too much every night as I was sooooo tired.
Day 1 was super fast. I was really worried for day 2. Chris pretty much pulled the whole way.
Day 2 was the big climbing day. That’s saying a lot as we had at least 9000 ft per day. Day 2 had 15000 ft, and a 23 mile climb. The climbing combined with the cold weather pretty much wrecked me.
Day 3 was the long day at 140 miles. I loved arriving in the desert. Heat and cactuses are my favorite! This day was one of the great rides of my life. It was so long and so fast I couldn’t believe it. We went through some interesting towns, and rode on some extremely smooth red colored roads.
Day 4 was a big disappointment for me. My knees just gave out on the first climb and I had to just watch as the others rode through Death Valley. I was really looking forward to this day, but fortunately I got plenty of desert riding the day before. Mike cheered me up by making the ultimate soft serve sundae for me after dinner.
Day 5 was the spectacular end. We arrived at the demo and our media people were there to greet us. It felt great to talk with them about the ride. When I saw Vegas on the horizon I knew that this great adventure was almost over.
This ride was something I’ll never forget. My wife Andrea was very supportive and encouraged me to go for it. I was a little worried about the mileage and mountains. I want to send a big thanks to Mike Sinyard for making this happen and for the huge deserts at night. Nancy and Donna helped so much with support. We couldn’t have done this without them. Ian made some awesome videos and took a lot of great pics so now we all have a nice record of the trip. To the riders: I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys! Chris and Don set some amazing tempo. Randy kept me going. Mike made us all laugh. And Mark is the coolest.
Keith and Jason covered for me so I could go. And thanks to JT, John, Ariadne and all the others that made it possible for me to be a part of this ride. The Innovate or Die Ride was one of the greatest experiences of my life!
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Comments (1)
09:27 AM on October 03, 2007 UTC burton rojas wrote:
AWWEESSOOMMMMEEE! Sounds like the trip was a great experience. I love that feeling when you come in to Vegas and see the town, especially at nite. Glad you had a good trip. See you soon I hope.